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The High Holidays are fast approaching and it seems everybody I know is in menu-planning mode. A good cheese kugel is great for lunch during Rosh Hashana or for breaking the fast on Yom Kippur.

I know a lot of recipes call for some sugar, but I prefer to leave it out of cheese kugels — leave it for the apple or other fruit versions. I like my cheese kugel to have a little tang and will either add sour cream, or in this case, buttermilk to the recipe. The topping is optional, and it is delicious without it, but perhaps just a little more delicious with it.

Serve with extra sour cream on the side or if you must have a little sweetness, some sliced strawberries in syrup.

I started off the year well, posting more times in one week than I did in all of 2012. I did well into February until I got buried under Passover prep and all of the sudden I had no time to do anything. I have a notebook full of recipes just waiting to be typed up and pictures on my phone ready to upload, but they’ll have to wait until after Passover before they get turned into posts. I thought I’d be able to post some great new recipes for Passover, but time got away from me (though there’s still a chance of some posts during the holiday). Instead, I’ve done a little search online to find my Passover footprints and round them up into a single post here. Some of the links are recipes on my blog or other websites, some are links to my business and my books and a few of them are links to eGullet.org, where I spent 3 Passovers blogging for the members there during Passover (I look back on those foodblogs now and can’t figure out how I got them done).

My family business: So, the reason I’m so busy now is that along with my parents, I own a kosher food store (the only independent kosher food store in the city) and catering company. Passover is our busiest time of the year, no question. We turn our store over completely for Passover, removing all items that are not kosher for Passover from the shelves, freezers and coolers and bringing in well over 1,000 kosher for Passover items (plus beef, lamb, veal, poultry and deli). Starting last week, we’ve been getting truckloads of products delivered almost daily, starting with an initial order that weighed in at 11,600 lbs. You can take a look at what we sell on our Facebook page, where we posted this album/tour.

On the side, I write cookbooks. So far, two. The second book is Passover – A Kosher Collection. For the three weeks leading up to Passover, my days are spent (among other things) answering questions from my customers. Younger customers are looking for help with traditional recipes, older customers are looking for new ideas and vice versa. I realized that there was a need for a new Passover cookbook and went to work on it. In the US and Canada, you can by it in various Judaica stores, and it’s available on Amazon.com in hard copy or for the Kindle/eReader. You can also order them from my website, and I’ll ship them anywhere! Around the web – my Passover friendly recipes/articles from other sites:

Through the years I’ve tried several different types of Hamentashen. Some of my favorites include almond pastry with apricot filling, gingerbread pastry with pear filling, cream cheese pastry with any fruit filling, yeast pastry and chocolate pastry with cherry filling. Though all good, sometimes I think there’s nothing better than a plain-old-simple-pastry with assorted fruit fillings.

Here’s my recipe for Simple Hamantashen dough. You can fill these with anything you want — jam, pie filling, chocolate, etc. I’ve made my own apricot, pear, poppy seed, prune and other fillings, but there are lots of great fillings out there, ready to go. Use whatever you like.

I use lemon zest in the recipe because I really love the hint of lemon flavour it adds to the cookies, but you can leave it out and they’ll still be delicious.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine, soft

1/2 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

zest of one lemon

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups flour

assorted fruit jams, pie fillings or other fillings

Preheat an oven to 350°.

Using an electric mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the lemon zest, baking powder and salt and mix through. Add the flour and mix on low until it’s all combined and a ball of dough forms.

Divide the dough into 2 sections, setting one aside. Roll the other section approximately 1/8″ thick on a well-floured counter. Use a cutter to cut out 2 1/2″ – 3″ circles. You can keep the scraps and re-roll them once.

Place about 1 tsp. of a filling of your choice in the center of each circle. Bring three sides of the dough together to make a triangle. Pinch the three corners together and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Continue with the rest of the dough.

Place the hamantashen in the oven and bake 15-17 minutes, or until the bottom and edges are golden brown.

You can make the dough the day before you want to make them, keeping it in the fridge, well wrapped.

According to my blog statistics, a lot of people are getting here because they are looking for a recipe for Mushroom and Onion Kugel. I do have a recipe for said kugel on this blog, but it’s for a kugel I make for Rosh Hashana. That one is made with egg noodles.

Since people are looking for it, I thought it would be a good idea to share my recipe for my Passover Mushroom & Onion Kugel. It’s very similar — simple and tasty, but uses farfel (broken up matzo) rather than noodles. Can be made ahead and freezes well.

If I had to choose (and it would be hard to decide) I think this might be my favourite kugel. Button and crimini mushrooms often get the short end of the stick, but I love them and this kugel shows them off.

4 Tbsp. | 60 mL olive oil

1 lb. | 454 g yellow onions, peeled and diced small (2 medium)

2 tsp. | 10 mL salt

1/2 tsp. | 2 mL black pepper

1 1/2 lbs. | 680 g button or crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 cups | 355 mL water

8 oz. | 225 g farfel (4 cups | 950 mL)

6 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 375 F | 190 C.

Place a large frying pan or a pot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 8-10 minutes or until soft and golden brown.

Add the mushrooms and cook another 6-8 minutes, or until they’ve all cooked and have shrunk by about half. We’re not trying to brown the mushrooms at all, just cook them.

Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cook for 1 minute.

Put the farfel in a large mixing bowl. Pour the mushroom/onion mixture over the farfel and stir to mix. Let rest for about half an hour or until cooled completely. and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Once cooled, add the eggs and stir to combine. Pour the batter into a greased 8 x 11-inch | 20 x 27.5-cm pan.

With Passover less than two weeks away, it’s time to make some serious decisions. The most important decision, in my opinion, is what kind of charoset to make. I love charoset. I like that charoset being passed around the table means dinner is about to start. I love that charoset is symbolic — it’s there to remind us of the mortar used by the Jewish slaves in Egypt to build cities. And I really love charoset because it’s delicious.

When I was growing up, charoset was always a mixture of shredded apples, cinnamon, honey, chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) and some sweet red wine. Nobody in my family used a precise recipe — we just added what looked right and kept tasting and adjusting until it was perfect.

Eventually I started experimenting and came up with some different flavour combinations that I really liked. Now I have a few charoset recipes that I love. Here’s my recipe for date charoset. I like it so much I make a double batch to use it on matzo throughout the week (great for breakfast!).

Date Charoset

2 oz. | 55 g walnuts (1/2 cup | 120 mL)

8 oz. | 225 g pitted dates (1 cup | 235 mL)

3 oz. | 85 g golden raisins (1/2 cup | 120 mL)

1/2 tsp. | 2 mL dried ginger

1/2 tsp. | 2 mL cinnamon

pinch of ground cloves

3 Tbsp. | 45 mL sweet red wine

2 Tbsp. | 30 mL fresh orange juice

1/4 tsp. | 1 mL orange zest

Toast the nuts. Preheat the oven to 350 F | 175 C. Spread the nuts out in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast for 8-9 minuets, or until golden brown. Cool.

Put all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the charoset reaches a texture you like. I like to pulse it until it is mostly paste, with some small chunks remaining. If you like it chunkier, stop pulsing before it gets too smooth.

After a wonderful vacation, I arrived home to a stack of Passover price-lists from my suppliers. Lots of people are surprised to hear that I’m working on Passover orders before we even start thinking about Purim — but that’s how it works. On the other hand, some customers have already started asking if the matzo has arrived yet!

For the last two weeks I’ve been going through the price lists. I’ve been comparing prices and trying to find the best deals for our customers. It’s exciting to see that there are some new products available — hopefully they won’t disappoint.

After the orders get faxed and emailed in this week and next, we’ll be working on our prepared food order form. Each year we cook and bake for 100+ families over Passover. Then the trucks will start rolling in with orders and right after Purim we’ll turn the store over for Pesach (all chometz gets packed up and the entire store gets stocked with KFP items).

I’ve been thinking about the latkes I’ll be frying for Chanukah this year. I spend days and days making latkes. As often happens, when I start thinking about a holiday food it brings back memories of the foods I enjoyed as a kid. I grew up with traditional foods prepared by my mother and grandmothers and though I will always love them, I also like throwing new twists at old favourites.

As I was thinking about using sweet potato, leeks, zucchini, mushroom and maybe some blue potatoes in latkes, the blue potatoes reminded me of my Baba’s (grandmother) blue latkes. No, Baba didn’t use blue potatoes like I was planning. Her pancakes were made from red, waxy potatoes that had turned a purplish-blue as the starches oxidized after they were finely grated. Some people add white vinegar to the potatoes to stop the oxidizing but I always grate the onions first and let their juices keep the potatoes from discoloring. Baba went au natural and we ate them as they were — and loved them! But, if I want blue latkes I’ll use those blue potatoes.

Here are a few of my favourite latke recipes. While I love, love, love potato latkes, it’s nice to have a few variations to have throughout the holiday. Try one or all of them.

Remember – Chanukah is a holiday that calls for eating things fried with oil. So I use oil to pan-fry all of the latkes. If you are looking for a lighter version, you can spray a non-stick frying-pan with vegetable spray – but be warned – the results will not be the same. For crisp on the outside, soft on the inside latkes use the oil. (You are commemorating a miracle!)

Some latke pointers that I shared a couple of years ago and thought it’s time to share again:

Use a food processor or box grater to grate vegetables and then squeeze as much liquid from the vegetables as you can. Discard liquid.

Use a non-stick or cast-iron frying pan for frying. Heat 1/4” – 1/2“ of canola or vegetable oil over medium heat. The oil should be hot enough for the latkes to sizzle and bubble as soon as they touch the oil, but not too hot or they will burn before they are cooked through.

To keep your potatoes from oxidizing grate the onions first. Toss the potatoes with the onion juices as you grate them and it will keep them from turning brown or blue.

Drain the cooked latkes on paper towel.

Fry one latke and taste it, checking the seasoning before frying the whole batch. If you like things light on salt and pepper cut back my quantities – taste one and add seasoning to suit your tastes.

Latkes are best served hot, right out of the pan (after draining). If you are feeding a group, place the fresh latkes on a baking sheet and keep in a 200º oven as you make them. If necessary, they can be frozen, thawed and reheated on a baking sheet at 350º degrees, uncovered, until warm (about 10-15 minutes).

Potato Latkes (adapted from Passover – a Kosher Collection)

1 lb. | 454 g yellow onion, peeled and grated (2 medium)

2 lbs. | 910 g red potatoes, peeled and grated

2 large eggs

½ oz. | 14 g cake meal (or flour) (2 Tbsp. | 30 mL)

1 ½ tsp. | 7 mL salt

¼ tsp. | 1 mL black pepper

canola oil for frying

Grate the onion first, then grate the potato and mix them together. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the onion/potato mixture and place in a mixing bowl.

Add the eggs, cake meal, salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat ¼-inch | 5-mm of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Use two spoons or an ice-cream scoop to gently place batter into the oil (use about 2 Tbsp. | 30 mL of mixture for each latke).

Fry for about 4 minutes, or until the edges start to brown, then turn over and cook another 3–5 minutes until both sides are golden brown.

Transfer to paper towel to drain. Continue frying the rest of the latkes, adding more oil if necessary.

Enjoy on their own or with sour cream or applesauce.

Makes 12-16

Zucchini Leek Latkes (adapted from Passover – A Kosher Collection)

I’ve seen young children who maynot enjoy vegetables gobble these up. They’re a little softer than potato latkes, so be gentle when you flip them over.

1 ½ lbs. | 680 g zucchini, trimmed and shredded

8 oz. | 225 g red potato, peeled and shredded

8 oz. | 225 g leek, washed well and thinly sliced (2 medium)

1 ½ tsp. | 7 mL salt

½ tsp. | 2 mL black pepper

2 ½ oz. | 70 g cake meal (½ cup | 120 mL) (or flour)

1 tsp. | 5 mL paprika

3 large eggs

canola oil for frying

Grate the zucchini and potato and squeeze out any excess liquid. Combine with the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Heat ¼-inch | 5-mm of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Use two spoons to gently place the mixture into the oil (use about 2 Tbsp. | 30 mL of mixture for each latke).

Fry for 2–3 minutes, or until the edges start to brown, then turn over and cook another 2–3 minutes, until both sides are golden brown.

Transfer to paper towel to drain and continue with the rest of the latkes, adding more oil if necessary.

Makes 16-18

Wild Rice and Mushroom Latkes

3 cups button/crimini mushrooms – thinly sliced

1 large yellow onion – peeled and finely chopped

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 can (425 g) cooked wild rice – rinsed and drained

1-2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. pepper

3 eggs

1/2 cup flour

canola oil for frying

Sauté onions for 2-3 minutes in oil over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms have released their juices and are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Drain and cool.

Place the cooled mushrooms and onions in a mixing bowl and add the salt, pepper, eggs and flour. Mix well.

Heat oil in a frying pan and carefully spoon heaping tablespoons of the mixture into the oil. Fry for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and set.

It’s hard to believe that Chanukah is just around the corner — but it will be here next week. Around here, we usually celebrate Chanukah in the depths of winter and thankfully we’ve had a few solid days of snow so we’re all set for this year.

The most common food for Chanukah is probably the potato latke. Crisp potato and onion pancakes fried in oil and served with sour cream or apple sauce. There is nothing wrong with a good potato latke, and I am sure I’ll be frying up hundreds, but that’s not your only option.

First of all, you can do all sorts of interesting latke recipes and I’ll be sharing a few of my favourites here, before the holiday starts. But you know, I think any good, fried food could be considered a good Chanukah dish.

In Winnipeg, as in Israel, sufganiot or jambusters or jelly-doughnuts are a treat often served for Chanukah. Or at least they have been for as long as I can remember. When I was growing up, boxes of sufganiot were always brought into school at Chanukah and my mother would always picked some up for us at the bakery.

The typical jelly doughnut around here is usually filled with a fruit filling, but you can go crazy and fill them with all sorts of things. In Israel they do go crazy and you can find many interesting fillings. How about caramel? Maybe a chocolate or mocha filling. Green tea? Sure.

If you’d like to try making some yourself, a few years ago I put up a step-by-step how-to demonstration at eGullet.org. The demo includes pictures so you can see how easy the process is — and make them yourself!